PdaNet, the popular (and free) tethering app in Cydia, has been updated to mask unauthorized data tethering. This comes after carriers like AT&T have started cracking down on iPhone owners who use MyWi to tether without losing their unlimited data plan.

AT&T has been flagging any packets that appeared to come from a secondary device before sending out a notice to users. PdaNet prevents this by using a method of masking packets sent through the network so your carrier can't tell if the data is coming from a device other than your iPhone.

Rene, Georgia, and Mickey Papillon, the Cell Phone Junkie, discuss more iPhone 5 rumors, iOS 4.3.1 bug fixes, the AT&T T-Mobile buyout and what it means for iPhone, when will we get LTE, AT&T's war on Jailbreak tethering, lawsuits, Google, #dickbar, and more! This is iPhone Live!

Some AT&T iPhone users, Jailbroken and tethering via MyWi, are getting text messages and e-mails from AT&T that imply they know they are tethering even though they aren't on an official tethering plan. One of our own writers, Andrew was one of those who received the message.

I use MyWi to tether as well but have not received anything yet. (I actually was just tethering today.) I'm not sure how they are detecting MyWi users but I can make some educated guesses.

Since AT&T offers Personal Hotspot under iOS 4.3, they may have access to data they didn't before, and they're choosing to use it in a pretty crappy way. So if you're on iOS 4.2.1 still (almost all jailbreakers are) and they see you're generating traffic that looks like Personal Hotspot, they know you're doing so without a plan.

Like Chris says below, browsers use the wap APN. Tethering uses the ISP APN. As such, larger data is expected through ISP not through WAP. So if AT&T sees a lot of WAP data it may raise a flag.

As several people say in the comments and Twitter, if AT&T sees a TTL reduction that suggests a device like a laptop or iPad in between the connection, it may raise a flag.

They're just going after heavy data users again and trying to bluff them into switching to a tethering plan and losing their unlimited data. Andrew tethers a heck of a lot more than me. I only consume a fraction of what he does. So that's a viable answer too.

Originally Jailbreakers used MyWi because AT&T took a year longer to offer iPhone tethering than international carriers. Since then they've used it to get around AT&T's ridiculous fees for tethering. (Tethering is free on some international carriers as well.)

Hit the jump to read the e-mail AT&T has been sending out as well as to let us know what you think! Anyone else been getting messages from AT&T? Anyone on iOS 4.3 using official Personal Hotspot? Any PDANet users?

We've heard rumors and gotten questions about whether the iPad 2 gains any GPS functionality when tethered to an iPhone 4 and, based on our tests (see the video above) -- yes it does, albeit a little dumbed-down. GPS functionality seemed to be working in both Maps and Navigon, but it clearly doesn't work half as well as the 3G enabled iPad with assisted GPS built-in. Still, if you've decided on purchasing the 3G enabled iPad 2 primarily for its GPS capability, you may want to consider tethering an iPad Wi-Fi to iPhone 4 as an option.

Keep in mind the test was conducted on an iPhone 4 running iOS 4.2.1 using MyWi to create a wireless hotspot, however the results should be the same when using an AT&T or Verizon iPhone 4 (running iOS 4.3 or 4.2.6 respectively) with the Personal Hotspot feature baked-in. Results should be similar on the original non-3G iPad as well, and make sure you have location services enabled on both devices for it to work properly.

So although this technically works, we wouldn't suggest using it as a full in-dash GPS unit by any means. If you want to do things like location-aware tweets it should work like a charm by roughly pinpointing your location when Wi-Fi router mapping isn't an option.

If you have a Wi-Fi-only iPad then pair it up with your iPhone 4 and let us know how it's working for you in the comments below!

Full review of the Verizon iPhone 4: Apple’s first CDMA phone

The Verizon iPhone is one of the most anticipated smartphones in recent memory, made even more so by the endless rumors and years of waiting those who wanted it had to endure. Now it's here and while the radio has changed it's still pretty much the same iPhone 4 Apple shipped on AT&T back in June 2010. A 7 month old phone on a brand new network is not something iPhone users have had to consider in the past. Is it worth the wait? Is Verizon really a better network? Does CDMA have important shortcomings you need to be aware of? Will the entire thing be rendered moot when Apple announces an iPhone 5 in June?

Figuring out the answers to these questions and more have kept all of us at TiPb extremely busy over the past couple of weeks. So hit the jump and on for our full Verizon iPhone review!